1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to fiber scanning optical probes and medical imaging apparatuses including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Technologies for performing precise tomography of lower layers of the human skin tissue are in high demand. Also, accurate information about the human skin tissue is required in medical imaging for medical diagnosis. In particular, since most cancers start in the lower cells of the epithelium and spread to cells of the hypodermis where blood vessels exist, if early stage cancer can be detected, damages caused by cancer can be greatly reduced. In existing imaging technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), x-ray computed tomography (CT), ultrasonography, and the like, tomography may be performed on layers inside the human skin tissue by penetrating the human skin tissue. However, since the resolutions of devices for such imaging technologies are low, early stage cancer, in which a tumor is small, might not be detected. On the other hand, in optical coherence tomography (OCT) technologies, optical coherence microscopy (OCM) technologies, and photoacoustic tomography (PAT) technologies that have been recently introduced, the penetration depths of light into skin are about 1 mm to about 2 mm (in the case of OCT) and about 30 mm to about 50 mm (in the case of PAT), and thus, are low compared to those of existing imaging methods. The resolutions of devices used in OCT technologies, OCM technologies, and PAT technologies are about 10 times those of ultrasound devices and thus are high compared to those of devices for performing other imaging methods. Thus, devices used in OCT technologies, OCM technologies, and PAT technologies are expected to be useful for early stage cancer diagnosis.
In order to apply these medical imaging technologies using light to diagnose inner parts of the human body by using endoscopy, laparoscopy, a surgical operation robot, or the like, light should be transferred from a light source to the inner parts of the human body. In this case, optical probes are used. Various scanning methods are used along with such optical probes, such as a method of using several bundles of optical fiber, a method of controlling an optical path by directly modifying an optical fiber, or a method of dividing an optical path by using a plurality of beam splitters, so as to obtain images of objects in predetermined regions.